


kahakai . where sand meets sea

by legalityQueen



Series: kahakai [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Character(s) of Color, F/F, Fluff, Gerudo Culture, Hylian Culture, Original Character(s), Post-BotW Fan-Universe, Questioning, Sexuality Crisis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 19:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16939131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legalityQueen/pseuds/legalityQueen
Summary: mae’sa is a gerudo girl, trying to make her own destiny. mina is a girl from lurelin, trying to move past her father’s death.sand and sea. fate would have it that the two of them met, and the rest which followed would change the both of their lives forever.





	1. prologue . mina

**Author's Note:**

> mina corsi
> 
> ☸︎
> 
> this chapter is written by hannah! check out her blogs here:  
> https://hyphen-hydrogen.tumblr.com/  
> http://aminoapps.com/p/7h6as

i lie on my back, staring up at the roof of our old thatched shack. a small beam of dawn sunlight shines through a crack, lighting up a small slither of this gloomy room. a few drips of water fall to the floor, the only remnants of last night's torrential storm.

i sit up, for the first time in a while. my pillow is damp, and kind of salty – from sea air and tears, so i throw it off the bed to clean later. i'm feeling shakey, but i give my legs a good stretch, and jump up.

oh. too quickly. my head spins, and my vision goes blurry for a bit, but i run over to a window and clumsily open it anyway. the light is blinding, and illuminates the entire room. it's very early, and nobody else is up – and that suits me just fine.

i sigh. i feel rubbish, but, i feel better. for the first time in a while, i actually want to get up. sometimes figuring stuff out takes a little bit of time, and i didn't want to have to deal with other people while i was thinking. i've been in bed for about three nights, just, thinking. and remembering.

i take a shower, throw on some clean clothes and pull a comb through my hair.

· ·

the sun rises quite early in lurelin village. it's always hot, and almost always raining too. it can't be much later than about 5am now, and i hear a couple of people stirring in their houses. some of the merchant boats are sailing in from the distance.

i sit on the doorstep, trying to get my head around the situation. this is the first time i've breathed fresh air since i shut myself up. the village has been worried about me, and i've had so many people knocking at my door. i've had letters and cards thrown through the window, but they all lie unopened, in a small pile by my bed. well, all but one–a small, expensive piece of parchment written on with tiny, flawless handwriting, and signed "reah" at the bottom. reah's probably the closest friend of mine, and the only person i can even bear to hear from. i don't really want to talk to the entire village about this, because it's not really their problem.

the house is so quiet today, and my thoughts are so loud. i take a look at the corner behind the door: my father's corner. it's cluttered with fishing rods, boxes of bait, letters, drawings, coconut shells–most of it organised into large (rather unorganised) piles. the mess always bothered me, to be honest, but i got used to it, and now i've kind of grown to love it. however, i can't stare at it for long, because it only reminds me of him, and i don't want this water in my eyes to form tears. i move my gaze to dad's bed, next to mine: empty; unmade and dirty, just like it was when he last lay in it and closed his eyes for the last time.

i just can't believe he's gone.

i knew it was coming. it was no surprise to me. he's been ill for years, you see. but it still sucks. my mother died when i was born, so it's just sort of been him and i. and now it's just me, and i don't know what to do.

· ·

i take a walk up to the cliff behind the village. dad's gravestone stands there, new and clean, but so impersonal. it just has his name, "rohan corsi", and his dates of birth and death. next to it is my mother's, "niamh corsi", worn and dirtied by the passing of eighteen years.

my dad was a good man. he loved me a lot and raised me well. i don't think i could have asked for a better childhood. he's gone now, but his memory will live for as long as i do, and his smile remains as vivid in my thoughts as it's always been. just because he's gone, doesn't mean he's really...gone.

it's time to move on, i think, and lurelin village hasn't got much left for me. i'll pack my bags, sell the shack, and move on out to – oh, castle town, i think. it's always fascinated me, and i reckon i could make some rupees there, selling my paintings. i'm good at painting: i've been teaching myself ever since i was a child, and i've made a small amount selling them to merchants here. people tell me they're good and that i usually undercharge for them, but to tell the truth, i've only ever made them for fun. it's definitely something i'd love to do for a living.

· ·

two weeks later, and that's exactly what i was about to do. i sold the house and most of my old belongings, and managed to get a good few thousand rupees for them. i know that will pay for a tavern room and food for me for a good few months. i've never been one to overthink things, and i just want to get busy so the emptiness doesn't hit again.

there's not many bad things that could realistically happen to me, so i just try not to doubt. that's my general approach to a lot of things. i know if the worst happens, i'll figure SOME way out. it's not my problem to worry about just now.

· ·

on my last morning in lurelin, i sit next to dad's headstone again, staring out to sea for the last time. the sun is just beginning to peer out over the horizon and warm up the air, casting long shadows over everything and evaporating the rain. i want to set off before it gets too hot and muggy.

i have two bags with me, one full of clothes, food and water, and rupees, the other with a large collection of my painting and drawing supplies. hmm. you know, it feels sad to leave this all behind. i've spent eighteen years of life here, and i've been happy. but the future it far too exciting to spend here. i don't want to spend my life stuck here, fishing, only to wake up one day, in several years time, to realise i could have been so much more.

i blow a final kiss to my parents, and scramble to my feet. this is it. the end of one era, and the beginning of another. i really can't wait!


	2. prologue . mae’sa

the bright melody of sitars and flutes colored the air a light yellow, contrasting with the blue of the sky that day. like every other day, the sky was clear, and almost suffocatingly blue. but i love the sky, and i keep looking up to it today.

today is my coming of age. seventeen years old. that’s what the music is for. i’m wearing a traditional garb, fashioned of blue with white engravings. the last several generations of gerudo had woven this into their traditions; i’d been taught at a young age that it was because of the champions of the calamity, and of urbosa, the gerudo champion. she wore one of these same skirts when she played a role in saving hyrule. i feel the breeze singing under my own version of that skirt, and it feels refreshingly different from my usual pants. 

i’m walking down an aisle, my gerudo sisters and va’ais of the whole city in attendance. they played music and sang and drank the finest wines made of desert fruit. and once i reach the end of the aisle, i’m standing eye-to-eye with the village chief: rohaji. she’s a far descendent of urbosa, and her daughter, and her daughter, riju, and so on and so forth for many generations. she’s a lovely chief, and everyone adored her just as much as her mother when she ruled. 

rohaji smiles, standing only a few marks taller than me. in her hands is a sapphire circlet, traditionally woven into gerudo clothing for protection from the heat. 

”vasaaq, everyone.” rohaji smiles as she speaks, and the music stops with an eerie sense of finality. all eyes turn to her, and i feel them on my back. it almost makes me feel uncomfortable, but my pride in this moment drowns that out. i’ll finally become an adult, in a few moments. 

”we are here today, for this is the day that our sister mae’sa turns from a vehvi to a vai. we all have our time, and today is hers; i ask you to all sit in your seats, and close your eyes. we shall commence with the ceremony.”

i bow my head, long-trained to know what to do next. everyone behind me sends a silent prayer—and while that doesn’t mean much to me, it does mean a lot to know everyone cares. rohaji picks up the circlet, with my name engraved in the ancient gerudo runes, and places it upon my head. 

with a few words sang like a bell’s ring from the chief, i became a woman. a vehvi to a vai. the sapphire circlet on my head alleviates much of the heat of the desert; heat i’d grown in order to survive my whole life. now i’m allowed to move on to the next chapter. 

. .

and here i am, walking through the streets of hyrule castle town. i had packed my things that night, ready to finally leave the town i’d spent my whole life trapped in. of course, no one thought this strange: i’m expected to find a hylian man to help birth a child. that was what every young vai was supposed to do once they came of age. 

but i’m going to have none of that traditional bullshit. 

i left not in search for a man, but in search of freedom and knowledge. all my life, i studied as much as i could about cultures across hyrule, and now i can finally travel to all the places i’d only imagined from my textbooks. 

i hug my cape close to my shoulders (i hadn’t expected needing a coat, and gerudo town certainly didn’t sell any), and shiver in the cold of the town. it was cold during the desert nights, sure, but no one walked around outside during them. to my amusement, little puffs of fog escape my mouth as i exhale. while things were less than comfortable for me here, it was definitely beautiful. 

looking at the sky again, as i do often, i notice the light of the sun leaving. i realize i have no place to stay for the night; i brought my savings of rupees and the gifts of my fellow gerudo during her coming-of-age for my journey. they should be able to buy food and a place at an inn for at least a week before i figure out how to make some money; or, as many others do, find a voe to fall in love and support them for the time being. i see the warm light streaming from a door nearby, and figure i might as well see if it’s a place to stay. even if not, i could certainly ask where to find one, right? from my reading, i’ve discerned that hylians are a helpful folk. 

not many people are in the streets, considering how late it is. so as i walk over, i hear the bubbling sound of hylian speech, and my ears have to adjust to their accent a bit. as i step into the doorway, warmth and the smell of fresh bread and beer waft to my nose. all of a sudden i realize how truly tired i am from my journey that day, and sit down at the closest empty chair. it’s quite a cosy pub, and while it certainly feels different from the gerudo pub i’m used to, it isn’t too foreign. 

looking around, i catch eyes with a girl across the room on accident. dark skin. muscular build. curly dark hair. her eyes look friendly and optimistic. 

after sitting for a short while (and contemplating whether or not it was rude to do so), i approach the girl, sitting down across from her at her table. surely it won’t matter, as she isn’t a man—this won’t be misconstrued as a romantic approach, or creepy. exhaling, i smile and say, “vasaa—i mean, hello! my name is mae’sa, and i couldn’t help but notice how friendly your eyes looked. what’s your name?” 

and that was it. that was the action that set our next chapters into place, and started destiny’s wheel turning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and thus ends the prologue of these two lovely ladies! i hope you enjoy, and i’d love to see feedback <3


End file.
